It is likely that changes to the employer debt regulations (the so-called "section 75 debt" regime) will come into force on 6 April. These will prevent a debt from arising on certain internal group restructurings where there is no weakening of the employer covenant. However, the regulations are highly prescriptive and are, therefore, less attractive as a means of dealing with section 75 debts when compared to apportionment or withdrawal arrangements.

S271 Insolvency Act 1986 provides that a bankruptcy petition may be dismissed if the court is satisfied that a debtor can pay his debt, or has made an offer to secure or compound the debt, the acceptance of which offer would lead to the petition being dismissed and that the offer has been unreasonably refused. But what is a reasonable refusal?

The Joint Administrators (the “Administrators”) of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (“LBIE”) have issued a notice, dated December 4, 2009 (the “Notice”), pursuant to Rule 2.95(1) of the U.K. Insolvency Rules 1986, announcing their intent to make a distribution (by payment of an interim dividend) to preferential creditors (if any) and unsecured, non-preferential creditors of LBIE. The Notice was authorized on December 2, 2009, by an order of the High Court of Justice (Companies Court) in London (the “U.K. Court Order”).

THE PERENNIAL PROBLEM OF UNPAID DEBTS – YOUR RECOVERY OPTIONS

Company Administrations in the UK are still on the rise. An administration is the nearest UK equivalent of a US Chapter 11 procedure or an Insolvenzplan in Germany. You may not have heard the term ‘pre-packs’ but if you become involved with any struggling business in the UK, be it your own or that of a customer, supplier or a tenant, you should know what you are up against.

The statutory moratorium may not protect a company in administration against proceedings continuing under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954

Property professionals will no doubt be familiar with the statutory moratorium that comes into effect immediately upon an administration order being made in respect of a company. The main effect of this is that no legal process may be started or continued against the company or property of the company except with the consent of the administrator or with the permission of the court.

The background

Yesterday, the U.K. Treasury announced that it had published a report setting out detailed proposals for the effective management and resolution of failed investment banks.

As previously described in our Alert of Oct.

In a recent interesting Scottish case, HSBC Bank plc, Re an Order to wind up Kirkbride Investment Limited [2009 Scot CS CSOH 147], the Court of Session granted an application to wind up an overseas company and appoint Joint Provisional Liquidators. The company, registered in Gibraltar, was involved in property development in Scotland with the secured lending provided by the Bank.

The Facts

Independent Trustee Services Ltd (the trustee) was the sole trustee of the Ilford Pension Scheme (the Scheme), which was underfunded when the sponsoring employer went into administration in 2004. There was a proposal that the trustee should buy out certain benefits for members of the Scheme, for whom no Pension Protection Fund (PPF) compensation would be available, before the Scheme entered an assessment period.